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Step 1: 1935

August 1935. Prince George's County, Maryland. "One step in artificial insemination." If you like animals, and working with your hands, we have the perfect opening -- apply within. (And, smoking permitted!) 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

My dad was a veterinarian and we raised apporximately 100 beef cattle, mostly herefords and angus, along with the new calves that made their appearances each spring. Once a year, we'd get the cattle rounded up and my dad would do this to the heifers. But he was not performing artificial insemination, he was preg-testing them to see which ones were with-calf, and at the same time getting an idea of the size of the fetus, so he could tell how far along they were. Perhaps that's what's going on here? Since I see no equipment related to the insemination process that would be my first guess.

Care and Management of Dairy Bulls.

Artificial Insemination.

In recent years much interest has developed in the use of artificial insemination for breeding dairy stock. If the proper care and technique are exercised, semen can be collected, kept for several days, and successfully used on cows in the herd or in nearby herds. This should extend the use of a valuable sire to a much greater extent than if natural matings are used. Then, too. many valuable sires, because of age or because they are crippled, are unable to perform natural service, in which event artificial insemination can be practiced.

It has also been demonstrated that semen can be transported by airplane to distant points for artificial insemination. In the laboratory of the Bureau at Beltsville, sperm cells have been kept active from 6 to 11 days in numerous instances and for as long as 21 days in some instances.

Only veterinarians or specially trained men should attempt the collection and preparation of the semen for holding or shipment, and artificial insemination of the cow on receipt of the package. Further information on methods of collecting, storing, and transporting semen from bulls, together with suggestions for impregnating cows, will be sent if a request is addressed to the Bureau of Dairy Industry, Washington, D.C.

I wonder why they don't show the bull's face? I can picture a big smile and crossed eyes and a cigarette. Farmer in back of us says they stick some kind of an electrode up there now and shock him. Kinky!

Reminds me of the story in the "Book of Heroic Failures" about the vet who was treating a cow for gastric distress and lit a match in the vicinity of, as the book put it, "the end of the cow not capable of facial expression." The resultant explosion killed the cow and burned down the barn. The police searched for some charge to bring against the vet and finally settled on "setting a fire in a manner surprising to the magistrates." All this in England, as you probably gathered from the quotes.

My niece graduated from vet school last year. I asked her about this, and she said you can learn a lot sticking your arm up a horse's or cow's butt. Colic, which is a leading cause of death among horses, is diagnosed and treated this way.

It always reminds me of the many, many scenes in the great British series "All Creatures Great and Small," where Mr. Heriot is rolling up his sleeve, or washing his hands. Vets nowadays have nice little pink shoulder length rubber gloves for the purpose.

Besides the amount of actual work one has to do as a farmer which would probably kill me, I don't understand much of what they do. Take this picture for example. It's a bull. Perhaps I've blocked it, but I don't remember anything remotely like this in the process that resulted in my two kids. Granted, the act photographed is part of an artificial process (although I'm sure the bull would argue that point), but still. Perhaps I could ask my wife. Then again, maybe not.

Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.